The Boston Tea Party, which occurred the night of December 16th, 1773, has been called “the single most important event leading up to the American Revolution.”
Next year will mark its 250th anniversary, and The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum has embarked on a nationwide campaign to recognize the gravesites of all known 125 Tea Party participants.
On August 28th, 2022 they visited the town of Blandford and placed a marker on the grave of Samuel Sloper. Producer Dave Fraser brings us the story.
Read the full transcript:
Zydalis Bauer, Connecting Point: The Boston Tea Party, which occurred the night of December 16th, 1773, has been called the single most important event leading up to the American Revolution.
Next year will mark 250 years since that historic event and the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum has embarked on a nationwide campaign to recognize and place markers on the gravesites of all known 125 Boston Tea Party participants.
On August 28th of this year, they visited the town of Blanford and placed a marker on the gravesite of Samuel Sloper. Producer Dave Fraser brings us the story.
Evan O’Brien, Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum: We are gearing up for the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party in 2023. As part of those efforts, we have been for years now, doing research to find the final resting places of the 100 to 150 individuals that took part in the event that would become known as the Boston Tea Party.
Well, hello, everyone! Thank you very much for being here.
Today is our 101st marker that we’ve placed. So, it’s been a long project for us, a lot of labor, a combination of travel and research. But we’re really honored to be able to share this history with each of the local communities.
The majority of the participants names are hardly, if ever, mentioned with those we routinely honor during times of historical commemoration. But Samuel Sloper and others like him were just as important to the formative years of our nation as the names we all know: Paul Revere. John Hancock. Samuel Adams. John Adams. They were important to the cause, of course, but so are the likes of Samuel Sloper.
First thing that’s made a lasting impact with me with the project is just the sheer amount of enthusiasm and passion that each community has for their history. You know, for us it’s a relatively easy event to put on, but for the communities it means everything. It’s a time to gather, to celebrate, to communicate.
The event may have happened in Boston Harbor, but it’s our story across Massachusetts, across New England, and across the nation.
